


Someone Is Missing

by SummerStormFlower



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Brothers, Gen, Jay feels guilty for not telling Zane about Echo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22426729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerStormFlower/pseuds/SummerStormFlower
Summary: Zane tells Jay about a dream he had last night. Jay decides to tell him about Echo Zane.
Relationships: Cole & Lloyd Garmadon & Kai & Nya & Jay Walker & Zane, Jay Walker & Zane, Nya/Jay Walker, Zane & Jay Walker
Comments: 16
Kudos: 90





	Someone Is Missing

Jay doesn’t know what wakes him. He never wakes up this early. The sun is just starting to rise, reds, oranges, pinks and purples painting the horizon. 

Everyone else is still in bed, except for Zane, which is pretty normal. Zane gets up earlier than all of them. Most days, he’s up even before Master Wu. 

Something feels... off this morning though. So, Jay gets out of bed and quietly heads to the kitchen. He finds Zane at the table with a cup of coffee, gazing out the window. 

“Good morning,” Jay yawns. 

Zane doesn’t answer. 

“Um... Zane?” 

Zane jumps and looks at him, startled, having just noticed his presence. “Oh,” Zane smiles, “Good morning, Jay. You are up unusually early.”

“Yeah,” Jay agrees, sitting across from Zane, although what he really thinks is unusual is Zane’s reaction time, normally flawless. 

What’s even more unusual is that Zane doesn’t offer to make more coffee, like he always does. He goes back to staring out the window, a far off look in his eyes. 

“Hey, is something wrong?” Jay asks, frowning in concern. 

Zane looks at him again, then down at his mug. The coffee’s gone cold and he clearly hasn’t taken a single sip of it. 

He sighs. “Lately...” Zane begins uncertainly, “I have felt like... there is a piece missing from my life.”

Jay blinks, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well...” Zane scrunches his nose. “It is difficult to explain.”

Jay leans forward. “It’s okay. Go on,” he reassures, ready to listen to whatever burden his brother is carrying.

Zane is quiet for a moment, trying to knit the right words together in his mind. Jay is patient. Jay can’t even count all the times Zane has comforted him when he was having a bad day; this time, he’ll be the one to comfort Zane. 

“I have never told anyone this,” Zane starts, “but when I remembered my father, I still felt as though a part of my identity was missing.”

“Because he wasn’t with you anymore?” Jay asks.

Zane shakes his head. “No. Even after we reunited, I had the same feeling. Of course I was happy, but I didn’t feel quite... complete,” he explains, “And ever since his death, this feeling has stayed with me. Like there is... something I still do not remember.” Zane gives Jay a hesitant look. “If that makes sense?”

Jay nods.

Zane looks out the window again. The sun has risen higher, the colours splashing over his face. He has that far off look in his eyes once again. 

“Last night, I had a dream,” he says, “I saw a face. It looked like my face, except it was not mine.”

Jay tenses. He might know what Zane is talking about. Memories of a genie, and pirates, and floating islands flood his mind. With them, come the rotten memories too; the ones that keep him up some nights, stealing the breath from his lungs and making his head hurt. Like the giant spider, and the genie’s hook that almost stole his eye, and Nya dying in his arms.

Sometimes when Jay closes his eyes, he still sees all of it. 

“It was... different,” Zane continues, “Like a younger version of me.”

Oh no. Jay does know what Zane is talking about. 

Zane frowns at the window. “I think that someone important is missing from my life.”

Echo. 

Zane was talking about Echo. Zane knows about Echo, but he doesn’t know who he is. He doesn’t know who his brother is.

His brother by blood. (Or wires, or circuits, or whatever, same thing).

Jay is silent, processing this. So much turmoil and pain had befell their friends, he and Nya thought it would be better if they didn’t remember it. So they’d agreed not to tell them. About any of it. 

Including Zane’s little brother. 

Suddenly, Zane turns to him and his eyes are a guilt-poisoned knife to Jay’s chest. “I know it may not sound believable. But I can feel it. Someone is supposed to be here and they are not. Can you please help me find them?” he asks. “Please, Jay?”

Zane never asks for anything. He never pleads. He never complains, he never gets angry, and he never leans on anyone. He does so much, and it must take a toll, but he never shows it. 

He’s done so much for Jay. 

“I—“

Zane’s eyes are glued on him, awaiting his response. There’s a vulnerability in his expression that is normally never there, like he’s afraid Jay is going to say no. 

Jay can see Zane’s face falling with disappointment if he does. 

And Zane’s done so much for him. Zane has cared for him, even when he messed up. Zane has loved him, even when he didn’t love himself. 

He should talk to Nya first. He really should talk to Nya first. 

But this is Zane. This is his chosen brother. 

“I actually have something to tell you.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Someone Is Missing(PODFIC)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27439756) by [WhaleKingdom (BadFeelin)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadFeelin/pseuds/WhaleKingdom)




End file.
